National Football League

The NFL is willing to consider a return to its Los Angeles roots. Evidently, so are the San Diego Chargers. While the league is kicking around the notion of playing the 50th Super Bowl in L.A. -- where the first one took place -- the onetime L.A. Chargers appear to be inching closer to a possible return to their birthplace. As is always the case with the on-again, off-again saga of the NFL's flirtation with the nation's second-largest market, nothing is written in stone.

What, you don't believe they can do it? You doubt that Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew can be buried up to his neck on a beach, then use his superhuman burst to explode out of a hole five feet deep? You wonder whether Denver quarterback Chris Simms can effortlessly throw passes into trash cans 45 yards away, then pull off the same trick as a can is zipping past on a golf cart? You scoff at the comic-book quickness of New York Giants tight end Kevin Boss, who bends backward Matrix-style to one-hand a pass screaming at his head from point-blank range?

USC linebacker Rey Maualuga is a hitter not a hittee, so it's somewhat appropriate that the weight of this reality has not fully struck him: Life as he knows it is about to change. "I guess it really hasn't sunk in yet that tomorrow will be my last day as a college athlete," Maualuga said in a phone interview Thursday from his home in Eureka, Calif. "It's strange to think it's over." Over, and just beginning.

After a while, USC linebacker Rey Maualuga stopped watching the NFL draft. "Friends would text me and I'd feel the phone vibrate," Maualuga said in a phone interview Saturday from his home in Eureka, Calif. "I thought, 'It's cool, I'm getting picked.' Then I'd say, 'Dang.' " Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Maualuga were expected to become the first trio of players from the same unit to be picked in the first round.

Your head says Michael Vick has served his time, has suffered some punishment for his horrific involvement in a dogfighting ring and that people who have committed more serious crimes are allowed to leave prison and go back to work.

Super Bowl Sunday arrived in China's capital at daybreak Monday, but by kickoff it was standing room only at the Goose 'n' Duck, a British-style sports pub near sprawling Chaoyang Park in east Beijing. The vast majority of the nearly 350 football fans who braved the frigid morning temperatures were expatriate Americans, many already with beer in hand despite the hour.

With tears in his eyes, a USC student announced that after attending classes for four years and receiving his bachelor's degree, he was leaving campus to pursue his life's work. At which point, his beloved professor publicly scorned him for it. What's wrong with this picture? Nothing, apparently, if you are Pete Carroll. Everything, perhaps, if you are Mark Sanchez.

Asked for an assessment of NFL officiating this 2008 season, a league spokesman said, "Same as it normally is. Outstanding, not perfect. That's the nature of sports." The nature of sports can be difficult to stomach . . . for coaches with jobs on the line; for players with playoff bonuses at stake; for fans heavily invested, psychologically and financially, in their teams.

Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines this week's matchups; lines according to Glantz-Culver. See Farmer's video picks online at our Fabulous Forum blog at latimes.com/sports. Last week 10-4, overall 42-20 (.677); against spread 3-11, overall 25-37 (.403): Cincinnati at Baltimore When: Sunday, 10 a.m. TV: none. DirecTV: 704 Line: Ravens by 8.5. Over/Under: 42 The Ravens, who swept last season's series by a combined 51-13, will use the run to control the clock and tempo.

Times' NFL writer Sam Farmer examines this week's matchups; lines according to Glantz-Culver. See Farmer's video picks on line at our Fabulous Forum blog at www.latimes/sports. Last week 12-4, overall 32-16 (.667); against spread, 9-7, overall 22-26 (.458): Cincinnati at Cleveland When: Sunday, 10 a.m. TV: none. DirecTV: 704 Line: Bengals by 5.5. Over/Under: 38.5 The Bengals have shut out the Browns on the road twice in the last two seasons.